Brexiteers bet the UK can defy gravity in post-divorce trade

THE UK’s hard-line Brexit backers are making their move. If they get their way on new trade arrangements, they’ll face a test of gravity.

Many of those plotting to oust Prime Minister Theresa May also favour reverting to basic World Trade Organisation rules – thereby creating new barriers with Europe – arguing that it would supercharge economic activity with other, faster-growing countries further afield. That’s at odds with the theory of trade gravity, which states that the level of commerce between two countries is in proportion to their size and proximity.